It's time for Noblegarden--a hunt for loot, this time in the form of brightly colored eggs! We join together to "share the joy of life and friendship" all the while looking for carefully hidden eggs and devouring tons of chocolate!

Noblegarden starts on April 21 at 11:00 AM and ends on April 28 at 11:00 AM. Brightly Colored Eggs have been hidden all across the starting areas for both Alliance and Horde players to discover. These eggs can contain chocolates which serve as a currency to buy seasonal goodies--sometimes they also have special prizes! Simply head out to one of your faction's starting areas, grab some quests, and get out there and hunt eggs! Maybe you'll even earn some achievements along the way.

Today we're taking another look at WoW through the eyes of a boosted 90. Earlier in the week, we published a guide to essentials for boosted 90s including gearing tips, raid details, professions, and currency overviews.

This guide presents an overview of other new types of content added in Mists of Pandaria, in case you've been away from the game a bit or want a break from the gear grind.

Before we dive into the guide, be sure to check out our 1-60 Leveling Guide if you want to boost a character but would like them to hit 60 first for the profession boost as well! Also check out our guide to Boosted 90 Essentials to read up on raiding, professions, and the legendary questline.

This guide is for boosted 90 players--it covers basics like how to gear up quickly, fast ways to get Valor Points, profession perks, and raid information. We also cover some more advanced things you can try out, like Proving Grounds and Challenge Modes.

If you want to boost your character to 60 first for a profession boost, check out our Leveling from 1-60 Guide which covers questing zones and dungeons.

This guide covers how to level from 1-60 on the same continent--maybe you want to level an alt to 60 to get the Veteran bonus for upcoming level boosts, or just want something new!

Find out where to go and what zones you shouldn't pass up in our guide! We've even included some fun items to hunt for to give you reasons to check out certain zones over others.

Each section breaks down the questing experience by continent and faction, along with maps and descriptions of interesting things in each zone. We've also included a section for dungeons at the end in case you prefer to get some experience that way.

Welcome to Wowhead's Diablo III Guide! Patch 2.0.1 went live this week and this guide helps returning players see what's changed in the patch, as well as an overview of major content for new players! We also have a huge contest in celebration of Diablo going on--we're giving away a new computer, SteelSeries gear, and more!

Also in preparation for Reaper of Souls, the Wowhead team has taken our old Diablo site D3DB and relaunched it as D3head.com! Here you'll find updated class information, skill calculators, new items, revised recipe costs, and even details on the upcoming Crusader class.

We've also published another guide, this time covering content new to Reaper of Souls--Act V, Adventure Mode, Bounties, new itemsets, and transmog. Click here to check it out!.

Finally, be sure to buy your copy of Reaper of Souls if you haven't already.

If you pre-order it digitally before March 31, 2014, you get special rewards--Wings of Valor which summons golden wings for your characters, and Valla the Demon Hunter, an upcoming hero in Heroes of the Storm.

If you purchase the digital deluxe edition, you'll get a spectral hound minion, special transmogrification gear, Treasure Goblin's Pack in WoW, and Crusader Portraits and Decals in StarCraft!

The complete Collector's Edition also includes a two-disc "Behind the Scenes" DVD, hardcover book The Art of Reaper of Souls, and the Reaper of Souls soundtrack.

What's Changed

The difficulty system is reworked. The system is now more dynamic and monsters level up with your characters. The new difficult settings are Normal, Hard, Expert, Master, and Torment.

The Paragon System is reworked. Levels no long reward magic/gold but award points that can be spent to boost stats. There is no level cap as well.

Nephalem Valor is gone, but there are two new buffs. Pools of Reflection provide a 25% bonus to experience stacking up to 10 times, and Nephalem Glory, which causes players to deal additional damage via golden lightning bolts and move quickly, is acquired from Power Globes dropped from monsters.

Cursed Chests are a new type of event, which provide chests or Shrine buffs as rewards for investigating them.

Loot 2.0 is in. You'll see less loot drop, but it will be smarter and mostly tailored to your character's stats. Itemization has been reworked as well to ensure both primary and secondary stats are on items.

New social features are in--clans and communities.

Also as a heads up, the Auction House is closing March 18, 2014. A blog is coming soon with further details on what will happen to items and Battle.net balances.

Click the Expand option to read the official 2.0.1 Diablo Patch Notes!

Blizzard

GENERAL

Pools of Reflection have been added to the game

Pools of Reflection provide a 25% bonus to experience

This bonus persists until you reach a set amount of bonus experience (equal to approximately 10% of the current amount of Paragon experience needed to reach the next Paragon level) or your character dies

Gathering additional Pools of Reflection bonuses increases the amount of total experience bonus a character can receive until character death, stacking up to 10 times

This experience bonus persists on logout

Nephalem Glory has been added to the game

Occasionally during battle, monsters will drop Power Globes when damaged or killed

Power Globes grant the Nephalem Glory buff, which causes players to deal additional damage in the form of golden lightning bolts and increases their movement speed for a short time

Life Steal has been redesigned and is now less effective at higher character levels

At level 60, Life Steal is reduced to 10% effectiveness

Players now have the ability to resurrect in multiple places when they die in Normal (non-Hardcore) games

You may choose to either resurrect at your body, in town, or at the last checkpoint you encountered

Players may not resurrect at their body during a Boss encounter

Players may only resurrect at their body a maximum of three times in a row

Player hit boxes have been adjusted to more closely represent character models

Both male and female models of the same class share the same size hit box

Followers now automatically level with characters Quests now occasionally grant item rewards when completed during the leveling process Gold can no longer be traded Nephalem Valor has been removed from the game Graphics engine has been updated to support reflections

Reflections can be turned on in the Options &#62; Video menu

Note: This setting is not recommended for players running minimum system specifications

BOSSES

Many bosses have had their mechanics revisted and retuned

The following bosses have received the largest changes to their encounters:

Maghda

Siegebreaker

Azmodan

Iskatu

In addition, the enrage timers for the following Bosses will only be enabled in Torment I and above:

Shoot a spread of bolts that hits the primary enemy for 160% weapon damage and two additional enemies for 80% weapon damage. If an enemy is in front of you at close range, you will also backflip away 15 yards. You may backflip once per 3 seconds.

Now a Primary skill Skill Rune – Parting Gift

Increased poison bomb damage from 55% to 150% weapon damage

Skill Rune – Covering Fire

Skill has been reworked

Increased the damage for all shots from 130% to 160% weapon damage

Skill Rune – Displace

Damage type changed from Physical to Cold

Skill Rune – Surge

Removes cooldown on backflip, but each backflip now costs 2 Discipline

Skill has been reworked and now has both an active and a passive ability

Active: Your raven deals an additional 500% weapon damage on its next attack

Passive: Summons a raven companion that pecks at enemies for 100% of your weapon damage as Physical

Skill Rune – Spider Companion

Skill has been reworked and now has both an active and a passive ability

Active: Your spider throws webs at all enemies within 25 yards of you and him, Slowing them by 80% for 5 seconds

Passive: Summons a spider companion that attacks enemies in front of him for 100% weapon damage as Physical. The spider's attacks Slow enemies by 60% for 3 seconds.

Skill Rune – Bat Companion

Skill has been reworked and now has both an active and a passive ability

Active: Instantly gain 50 Hatred

Passive: Summons a bat companion that attacks for 100% of your weapon damage as Physical. The bat grants you 1 Hatred per second.

Skill Rune – Boar Companion

Skill has been reworked and now has both an active and a passive ability

Active: Your boar charges to you then taunts all enemies within 20 yards for 5 seconds

Passive: Summons a boar companion that attacks for 100% of your weapon damage as Physical. The boar increases your Life regeneration by 826 per second and increases your resistance to all damage types by 20%.

Skill Rune – Ferret Companion

Skill has been reworked and now has both an active and a passive ability

Active: Instantly pick up all health globes and gold within 60 yards

Passive: Summons a pair of ferret companions that each attack for 100% of your weapon damage as Physical. The ferrets collect gold for you, increase gold found on monsters by 10%, and increase your movement speed by 10%.

Skill Rune – Wolf Companion

Skill has been reworked and now has both an active and a passive ability

Fists of Thunder applies Static Charge to enemies hit for 6 seconds. Each time and enemy with Static Charget gets hit, there is a chance that every other enemy with Static Charge within 40 yards takes 125% weapon damage as Lightning

Cast out a shard of ice that explodes on impact, causing enemies within 4.5 yards to take 175% weapon damage as Cold and be frozen for 1 second. Enemies cannot be frozen by Glacial Spike more than once every 5 seconds

Unlocks at Level 13

New Skill Rune - Conflagrate

Missiles pierce through enemies and cause them to burn for 55% weapon damage as Fire over 3 seconds. Burn damage will refresh all existing stacks of Conflagrate to its maximum duration

Killing an enemy grants a shield that absorbs 2477 damage for 3 seconds. This effect can stack up to 10 times. Refreshing Dominance will set the shield to its maximum possible potency and each stack will increase its total duration by 0.5 seconds

This is to prevent stats that directly and indirectly increase character power from competing with one another

Stat ranges on items have been narrowed significantly (example: instead of an item having a stat range of 1-200 Strength, its range might now be something like 140-200) Legendary powers now roll in a range, instead of a static amount

Players can now view the stat ranges of items by pressing and holding CTRL while an item's tooltip is open All Legendary items have been reworked with one or all of the above points in mindPlease note that all of these changes will only affect new items that drop after the patch is live. Existing items will not be affected.

Potions have been condensed to a single type; they now provide 60% of your total health when consumed

All Potions currently in character inventories or stashes will be converted to the new Potion type

MONSTERS

Monster affixes have been revisited and retuned

Arcane Enchanted

Spawn effect now shows which direction it will start rotating

Desecrator

Damage now begins low, but quickly ramps up to its maximum damage

Frozen

Increased the number of Frozen crystals spawned by monsters with this affix

Frozen no longer increases how many crystals are spawned based on the number of players in the game

Frozen crystals now deal area of effect damage over time to players as they build up to their explosion

Jailer

Now does a small amount of damage when applied to the player

Vortex

Now does a small amount of damage when applied to the player

Mortar

Now has an outer impact area that does less damage than the center of impact

Now detonates if they vertically hit a wall

Plagued

Monsters with this affix now sometimes drop a pool under players as well as under themselves

Reflects Damage

No longer reflects a portion of incoming damage

Now reflects a fixed amount of damage per attack

Elite and Champion monsters now have five new possible affixes

Frozen Pulse: A shard of ice follows targets around before freezing in place and pulsing cold damage in a small area

Orbiter: A nexus of electrical energy appears, surrounded by additional balls of lightning that orbit in a large area

Poison Enchanted: Summons globules of poison matter that spread in a cross pattern, dealing damage to those caught in their wake

Thunderstorm: A powerful bolt of lightning strikes the ground, emanating a small wave of electrical energy

Wormhole: A pair of portals appears, dealing damage as it tears unfortunate targets from their location and transports them elsewhere

Monster density has been revisited

Density has been retuned around the new difficulty system

Elite and Champion packs can now spawn in a larger variation of pack sizes

Wasp projectiles can now be dodged and blocked

PARAGON (PARAGON 2.0)

The Paragon leveling system has been completely revamped

There is no longer a cap on the number of Paragon levels a player can gain

Paragon levels are now account-wide and shared across all characters

Note that Paragon levels are tracked independently between Hardcore and Normal modes

Players no longer gain static bonuses upon achieving Paragon Levels and bonuses currently earned by players have been removed Players now earn Paragon points each level to spend in one of four separate categories: Core, Offense, Defense, and Utility

Players with existing Paragon levels have been granted the appropriate number of points to distribute amongst these categories

With these changes in mind, the Paragon leveling curve has been updated Note that all Paragon experience earned across all characters prior to this patch has been totaled and recalculated into your new account-wide Paragon level

Paragon points can be allocated by clicking the Paragon button in the Character Paper Doll and Inventory screen (Default Hotkey C)

SOCIAL FEATURES

Clans and Communities have been added to the game

Clans

Anyone may create a Clan, and doing so gives access to the Clan window (default hotkey N)

Joining or creating a clan displays your clan tag next to your name

Clan members can view the Members Roster, a private chat channel, and a News &#38; Info tab for Clan affairs and information in the Clan window

Clans support up to 120 members and require an invitation to join

Players may only be a member of one Clan at a time

Communities

Anyone may create a Community, and can view their Community details in the Social tab (default hotkey SHIFT + O)

Community members have access to their Members Roster, a dedicated chat channel, and a News &#38; Info tab for sharing stories and Community information

Players may join any number of Communities they wish

Communities do not have a membership limit; however, if the number of members exceeds 100, only Officers and above will be displayed in the Members Roster

Communities can be designated as Private or Public; Private Communities require invitation to join

Communities are organized by categories, including but not limited to Classes, Regional, and Game Type

USER INTERFACE

Several quality of life changes have been applied to the User Interface

The Difficulty and Game Creation menus have been completely redone

The in-game Menu has been revised

The waypoint list has been replaced with a waypoint map

Skill tooltips now show damage type if Advanced Tooltips are enabled

Several new social options have been added to support Clans and Communities

These can be accessed in the Options & Gameplay menu

New chat colors associated with Clans and Communities have been added There is now an option to enable icons for dropped items instead of text

This can be enabled in the Options & Gameplay menu

There is now an option to automatically skip all cut scenes

This can be enabled in the Options & Gameplay menu

Item labels for Gold piles are no longer displayed

This is to reduce visual clutter; values are still displayed when gold is picked up

Classes

Barbarian is a physical powerhouse that thrives on killing enemies. They mow down enemies with ease; once they've killed one, they go to the next, gaining power as time progresses. They have high mobility and high damage, perfect for someone who was used to the more damage oriented melee classes in World of Warcraft such as an Arms or Fury Warrior.

Barbarians use Fury as a resource and primarily look for Strength and Fury on hit procs on their gear. They use many types of melee weapons such as swords and axes and even have their own type of weapons called mighty weapons.

Barbarians do not have many group buffs--despite this, they make an excellent addition to a group as the group's primary damage dealer.

Skill Rune Triumph has been replaced with Beserk--increases the duration of the Frenzy effect for 10 seconds.

Group Build: Use a shield for this pure tanking and ally buffing build. Increase your allies movement speed every time you Sprint and their armor and health regeneration every time you War Cry. Pull enemies in with Ground Stomp and then taunt them with Threatening Shout.

Demon Hunters are a ranged physical DPS. Nerfed many times due to initially being Overpowered on release, Demon Hunters are largely considered the hardest class to play correctly; relying on evasion and deception to fight, they are often forced into doing their damage quickly or paying the price with their death. They have two different resources--hatred and discipline--making their abilities more complex to manage. They have companions that help them, such as a bat that generates hatred. People familiar with World of Warcraft Rogues might find themselves enamored with the Demon Hunter's reliance on reflexes and skills.

Demon Hunters use Hatred and Discipline. They primarily look for Dexterity and high critical chance/damage effects on their gear. They primarily use crossbows.

Demon Hunters are probably not the best class to pick up on a whim as a new player. They are only rewarding with great skill and gear. They are great as a duo or in groups, however, because once they have a tank or someone to initiate the mobs, they can output damage that rivals the Witch Doctors' damage in intensity.

Shoot a spread of bolts that hits the primary enemy for 160% weapon damage and two additional enemies for 80% weapon damage. If an enemy is in front of you at close range, you will also backflip away 15 yards. You may backflip once per 3 seconds.

Now a Primary skill Skill Rune – Parting Gift

Increased poison bomb damage from 55% to 150% weapon damage

Skill Rune – Covering Fire

Skill has been reworked

Increased the damage for all shots from 130% to 160% weapon damage

Skill Rune – Displace

Damage type changed from Physical to Cold

Skill Rune – Surge

Removes cooldown on backflip, but each backflip now costs 2 Discipline

Permanently increase maximum Discipline by 15 while rune is "equipped"

Skill Rune – Punishment

Now only restores 75 Hatred when activated

Skill Rune – Battle Scars

Life gain lowered from 60% to 40%

Companion

Discipline cost has been removed

Skill has been reworked and now has both an active and a passive ability

Active: Your raven deals an additional 500% weapon damage on its next attack

Passive: Summons a raven companion that pecks at enemies for 100% of your weapon damage as Physical

Skill Rune – Spider Companion

Skill has been reworked and now has both an active and a passive ability

Active: Your spider throws webs at all enemies within 25 yards of you and him, Slowing them by 80% for 5 seconds

Passive: Summons a spider companion that attacks enemies in front of him for 100% weapon damage as Physical. The spider's attacks Slow enemies by 60% for 3 seconds.

Skill Rune – Bat Companion

Skill has been reworked and now has both an active and a passive ability

Active: Instantly gain 50 Hatred

Passive: Summons a bat companion that attacks for 100% of your weapon damage as Physical. The bat grants you 1 Hatred per second.

Skill Rune – Boar Companion

Skill has been reworked and now has both an active and a passive ability

Active: Your boar charges to you then taunts all enemies within 20 yards for 5 seconds

Passive: Summons a boar companion that attacks for 100% of your weapon damage as Physical. The boar increases your Life regeneration by 826 per second and increases your resistance to all damage types by 20%.

Skill Rune – Ferret Companion

Skill has been reworked and now has both an active and a passive ability

Active: Instantly pick up all health globes and gold within 60 yards

Passive: Summons a pair of ferret companions that each attack for 100% of your weapon damage as Physical. The ferrets collect gold for you, increase gold found on monsters by 10%, and increase your movement speed by 10%.

Skill Rune – Wolf Companion

Skill has been reworked and now has both an active and a passive ability

Increased bonus damage to rockets from 50% to 100%In addition, you have a 20% chance to fire a homing rocket for 150% weapon damage when you attack

The monk is a perfect class for players who want to get in mobs' faces and wreck havoc. If you prefer decimating large packs of enemies, the monk is a perfect choice. They stick on one target and do split damage to the others, making them an AoE powerhouse.

Monks use Spirit as a resource and primarily look for Dexterity and critical hit damage as well as chance. They use fist weapons as well as other melee weapons.

Monks can be forgiving for new players, as they're one of the tankiest classes in the game. They also make for great co-op play: they can buff and heal allies with auras as well as spells.

Solo Build: High mobility build with lots of burst and average AoE damage.

Fists of Thunder applies Static Charge to enemies hit for 6 seconds. Each time and enemy with Static Charget gets hit, there is a chance that every other enemy with Static Charge within 40 yards takes 125% weapon damage as Lightning

Your heals and shields grant increased damage equal to the percentage of Life missing, up to a maximum of 30% for 10 seconds

Combination Strike

Increased bonus damage from 8% to 10%

Near Death Experience

Now also increases Health Globe Healing Bonus, Life per Second, and Life per Hit by 35% when Near Death Experience is on cooldown

Witch Doctors are a ranged magic DPS that summons pets to aid in their damage. Much like how a Warlock in World of Warcraft has different purposes for pets, their gameplay revolves around their pets: summoning an abomination might offtank for them, while summoning zombies will aid them in pure DPS. They use damage over time rather than AoE to do their damage--giving them the highest single target damage output in the game if in the right gear and right spec.

Witch Doctors use mana as a resource and primarily look for Intelligence and mana regen. They primarily use one handers, much like a Wizard.

Witch Doctors are a very good class for newer players or those who prefer a soloing experience. Due to the nature of their class revolving around pets, players aren't ever completely alone and have some assistance. They also have a lot of passives and buffs for themselves, making them very strong in a solo environment. They work just as well in groups, however, especially since their pets can be used to pull and gather mobs.

Solo: While your Gargantuan distracts enemies for you unleash your Zombie Charger onto them and watch them fall over.

Gain 1% of your maximum Life and Mana and reduce the cooldown of all of your skills by 1 second when an enemy dies within 20 yards

Wizards are a ranged magic DPS that's played primarily as a control mage. They are particularly known for their AoE, able to control groups perfectly with the right combination of spells while dealing damage to all of them and taking none themselves. With a lot of CC, they can kite for days with the right build. They can also be build as a high damage output.

Wizards use Arcane Power as a resource and primarily look for Intelligence and Arcane Power on crit for their gear. They are most effective with one handers as their items can have great offhands.

Wizards are great in groups because of their utility through crowd control, but they also make excellent solo players. People used to a range caster in games will particularly enjoy them.

Cast out a shard of ice that explodes on impact, causing enemies within 4.5 yards to take 175% weapon damage as Cold and be frozen for 1 second. Enemies cannot be frozen by Glacial Spike more than once every 5 seconds

Unlocks at Level 13

New Skill Rune - Conflagrate

Missiles pierce through enemies and cause them to burn for 55% weapon damage as Fire over 3 seconds. Burn damage will refresh all existing stacks of Conflagrate to its maximum duration

Killing an enemy grants a shield that absorbs 2477 damage for 3 seconds. This effect can stack up to 10 times. Refreshing Dominance will set the shield to its maximum possible potency and each stack will increase its total duration by 0.5 seconds

Reduced amount of additional damage to your next non-Signature spell from 75% to 60%

Difficulty System

The old difficulty system (Normal, Nightmare, Hell, Infernal) has been removed in favor of a "dynamic difficulty" system. This system allows monsters to level up with you and features unique challenges and rewards.

To change your difficulty, go to Game Settings and look for the "Change" button in the Difficulty column on the far right.

Difficulty

Gold and XP Bonus %

Bounties (RoS)

Gems

Normal

0

N/A

N/A

Hard

75

N/A

N/A

Expert

100

Double Currency

N/A

Master (unlocks after finishing Act IV)

200

Double Currency

Imperial Gems from lvl 61 monsters

A fifth difficulty level, Torment, is available to level 60 players. This level has special legendary armor and weapons only available at that difficulty.

Torment I: 300 % gold/xp bonus

Torment II: 400 % gold/xp bonus

Torment III: 550 % gold/xp bonus

Torment IV: 800 % gold/xp bonus

Torment V: 1150 % gold/xp bonus

Torment VI: 1600 % gold/xp bonus

Paragon System

The Paragon system is designed to make players still feel that they are progressing and getting stronger once they hit max level.

Paragon Basics

Once you hit 60, any experience gained goes towards Paragon points instead. Paragon process across characters will be consolidated and account-wide.

The amount of experience needed to reach Paragon levels will increase as you level.

When reaching a new Paragon Level, you receive a Paragon Point that can be spent on boosting stats (more below).

Every 10 levels, you get a new frame for your character portrait, each more elaborate than the last.

Paragon Changes

There is no cap on the number of Paragon levels earned. Previously, this capped at 100.

Paragon levels are now account-wide, but Paragon Points earned can be spent on all characters, not just the one who actually earned them. So, if you have earned 25 Paragon Points on your Demon Hunter and have two alts, all three characters get to spend 25 points.

Hardcore and Normal characters are handled separately. If a hardcore character dies, their contributed Paragon Points will not be removed.

If you have been playing Diablo and have a ton of Paragon levels, the new Paragon levels will be determined by Paragon experience on each of your heroes and then using that combined total. This includes Paragon experience for dead Hardcore characters.

Spending Paragon Points

Players cannot dump all of their points into one category--instead they evenly acquire points across four categories--Core, Offense, Defense, and Utility. These points can be reset and reassigned without any gold cost.

Loot 2.0

Item Changes

Diablo III is all about getting satisfying loot upgrades, and there are some pretty big changes to how loot is designed and acquired in this patch!

In this pre-patch, there are less loot drops--but they are much more useful.

With the new smart drops system, all loot has a chance to have stats that are tailored to your character, as well as item type--so a Demon Hunter won't see that many Mighty Belts.

Most items will be like this, but not all, so you can still find gear for different alts or followers.

Loot stats are now classified as primary and secondary. Primary stats boost a character's power and survivability, while secondary stats offer utility or less-direct benefits. These stats will no longer compete against each other, so you won't get an item that's just utility stats.

Stats on items now have much narrower ranges, so your damage is more consistent.

There are several new stats for rare and legendary items.

Much more loot is now Bind-on-Account.

Legendary and Set Items

In addition to the Loot 2.0 changes above, legendaries and set items are getting some improvements:

They will drop more often, especially for lower-level characters.

Legendary items will drop at all monster levels--if you wanted a scaled-up version of a low-level legendary that had a unique effect, you can loot the higher-level version now.

These items will have new effects that are unique to your class.

Item Basics

Item Quality

The rarity of an item determines how many stats an item has. Items under the new loot system max out at having six affixes.

Common: No real attributes.

Magic: 1-2 special properties.

Rare: 4-6 special properties.

Set: 6 special properties, and grants a bonus when worn with other set items.

Legendary: 6 special properties, including a unique powerful proc. Legendary items must be clicked on to be "discovered" and reveal their stats.

Stats

As stated above, stats are now classified as primary and secondary so items have a greater chance to be balanced.

There are also special items only followers can equip: Focuses for the Enchantress, Tokens for the Scoundrel, and Relics for the Templar.

Gems

There are five types of gems you can loot or craft, which provide weapon, helm, and armor bonuses based on their colors. New to this prepatch are Diamonds.

Gem

Helm

Weapon

Other

Amethyst

% Life

Life per Hit

Vitality

Diamond

Cooldown reduction on Skills

Increased damage against elites

All Resistance

Emerald

Extra Gold

Critical Hit Damage

Dexterity

Ruby

Bonus Experience

Weapon Damage

Strength

Topaz

Magic Find

Damage per hit to melee

Intelligence

Players can loot higher-quality gems based on the level of monsters. Three lower-quality gems can be combined to form a higher-tier gem.

If you want to remove a gem from your gear and hang on to the gear, you must go to Covetous Shen which will cost you gold. If you choose to salvage your gear from the Blacksmith, you will get the gem back in your inventory.

Sockets are a random property on some item types--not all items come with sockets. The following armor types have a chance to come with a socket: Helm, Amulet, Chest, Legs, Rings, Weapon, Quiver, Shield, Off-hand.

Item Appearance and Dyes

Most armor changes appearance based on your character's gender and class. Each class has an iconic style which is reflected in armor modifications. For example, a chestpiece on a Demon Hunter has a modified cape, while the same chestpiece on a Wizard resembles a flowing robe.

Players can customize their appearances with armor dyes--more colors are available in harder difficulties.

Crafting System

Blacksmith

Haedrig Eamon, first seen in Act I (A Shattered Crown), lets you craft weapons and armor.

You can also salvage gear you don't need for crafting materials.

The Blacksmith learns most recipes by the player paying progressively higher amounts of gold to level the profession--several legendary and set recipes are plans that are world drops.

Jewelcrafting

Covetous Shen, first seen in Act II (Blood and Sand), will let you combine gems to create superior ones, teach you new recipes, and remove gems from equipment so they can be reused.

Like the Blacksmith, Shen learns most recipes by the player paying progressively higher amounts of gold to level the profession--several high-quality drops are world drops though.

To craft a gem, you need three lower-quality gems and gold.

As you level up Jewelcrafting, Shen's tent becomes grander and grander reflecting the amount of gold sunk.

Crafting Changes

Crafting materials are condensed into two item tiers to save space. All crafting materials obtained from level 1-63 are now the same item--the Magic crafting material is Exquisite Essence, and the Rare crafting material is Iridescent Tear.

Crafting items now have stats appropriate to the class and level of the player. An exception is for recipes that clearly state some stats, like Archon Armor.

Social Features: Clans and Communities

Clans and Communities are two new social features encouraging you to play with your friends! To join either a Clan or Community, simply click on the "Communities" tab and start browsing.

Clan

Clans have a Members roster, private chat channel, and a News & Info tab.

Players can only join one clan.

To join a clan, you must receive an invitation.

Clans are limited to 120 members.

Community

Communities also have a Members roster, chat channel, and News & Info tab.

Players can join multiple Communities.

Communities can be marked as Public or Private and organized by Categories (Online Communities, Class Specific, Streamers/Personalities, Internet Cafes, Regional, Schools, Companies, Hardcore).

Communities have a nearly unlimited amount of players that can join.

On both groups, you'll find roster details and news. Clans also have detailed information on members, achievements earned, and legendary items looted.

Special Events

Events are special ways to acquire loot outside of the normal grind. This pre-patch introduces Cursed Chests, and we've also covered Whimyshire and the Infernal Machine. There are many smaller events scattered around the game as well.

Cursed Chests

Everyone loves stumbling across a chest, and Cursed Chests give a twist! You can earn loot, but first you must defeat a challenging event.

Cursed Chests are found in all acts and are easily identified due to their glowing red details.

One type of objective is survival--kill waves of monsters, with a special boss at the end.

There are also timed objectives--kill a certain number of monsters before time runs out.

Players have bonus objectives, such as killing 150 extra monsters. This can reward extra chests and loot.

Cursed Shrines are found next to Cursed Chests. When a bonus event has been completed, this shrine is purified and becomes usable as well.

These events have gold, experience, and a lootable chest as a reward.

Infernal Machine and Hellfire Ring

Added after Diablo III's launch, the Infernal Machine allows players to fight two bosses at once, with amazing loot rewards such as the legendary Hellfire Ring. With the removal of Nephalem Valor and new names for difficulties, this has some changes.

To assemble the Infernal Machine (one-time use), you need to get the following items from Keywardens:Key of Destruction: Odeg the Keywarden, Act I Fields of Misery

While you can fight these bosses in any difficulty, the items can only drop in Torment difficulty.

Once you have all the components, head to the Blacksmith. Your Blacksmith must be level 10 to learn this recipe. Forging the item also costs 12000 gold.

When the Infernal Machine is forged, go to the Heretic's Abode--right behind Brother Malachi in New Tristram. You need to be on the Act I step "Return to New Tristram" to break down the door.Right-click on your Infernal Machine to summon the red portal.Using the Infernal Machine will also destroy it, so if you want to summon another portal, you must farm up all the materials again. However, you do not need to retrain the pattern at the Blacksmith.It's better to farm up three Infernal Machines and use them at the same time, so you avoid getting duplicate bosses that you don't need if you summon them at different times.

Players can fight one of three pairs of bosses, each of which can drop an item for the Hellfire Ring.

Realm of Discord: King Leoric and Maghda in the Royal Crypts. Drops Writhing Spine.

Realm of Chaos: Ghom and Rakanoth in the Larder. Drops Devil's Fang.

Realm of Turmoil: Siege Breaker and Zoltun Kulle in the Edge of the Abyss. Drops Vengeful Eye.

If you die, you can retry the encounter as long as you don't log out. You should be able to restart the encounter by clicking on your summoned portal.

Once you have the three organs, visit Squirt the Peddler in Act II, who has a new design for the Hellfire Ring that costs 2 million gold. This teaches you four versions of the ring for each primary stat. Crafting each ring takes 50,000 gold.

Your Hellfire ring will have your primary stat, +35% experience, +4 magical properties, no level requirement, Bind-on-Account, and a chance to launch a fireball! A level 70 Hellfire Ring will be coming in Reaper of Souls too.

If you don't like the ring you've gotten, you can turn it into crafting materials, pass it onto alts, or give it to a Follower.

Secret Level: Whimsyshire

Whimsyshire is a level filled with unicorns, pink ponies, rainbows, and pots of gold. TO access this level, you need to craft the Staff of Herding.

The Staff of Herding requires the following items to craft:

Black Mushroom: Spawns in Act I, Cathedral Level 1

Gibbering Gemstone: Drop from Chiltara in Caverns of Frost, Act 3 (Fields of Slaughter area). If you see the Ice Caverns, reset and try again.

Plans: Drop from Izual or Diablo, Act IV.

Liquid Rainbow: Spawns in the Mysterious Cave, Dalghur Oasis, Act 2. Save Zaven the Alchemist who will then open the Cave for you which may contain a Mysterious Chest. Reach this area quickly by being on The Betrayer of the Horadrim: The Forgotten Ruins quest.

Monsters

Bosses

There are several different types of elite monsters which offer more difficult challenges:

Champion: These monsters are identified by their blue nameplate and bright blue glow. These monsters are found in packs.

Rare: These monsters are identified by their yellow nameplate. Unlike champions, a rare monster has one clear boss monster. Other related mobs can be present, but they are weaker minions and do not share the boss' abilities.

Elite: These monsters are identified by their purple nameplate and have preset abilities. They are either found as quest/story monsters or rare spawns in the outdoors. Since they have a set amount of abilities which does not always scale up in difficulty, these are considered easier than rares.

When facing a champion or rare, their special random abilities will be shown underneath their nameplate. The number of abilities increases based on difficulty and some abilities are boss or champion only, for better gameplay.

Keep in mind that there are items which can increase your damage done to elites.

In Patch 2.0.1, several bosses will only have enrage timers in Torment 1 and above: The Butcher, Zoltun Kulle, Belial, Ghom, Siegebreaker, and Rakanoth.

The following chart covers all of the old boss abilities, what monster level you can expect them at, and what type of ability it is. Only one Strong CC and Defensive ability can be found on a mob at once, but Aggressive abilities are unlimited.

Name

Description

Minimum Difficulty

Type

Arcane Enchanted

An Arcane object spawns a deadly beam that rotates in a circle.

Hard

Aggressive

Avenger

When a Champion is slain, the remaining ones get temporarily stronger.

Patch 5.4.7 is scheduled to go live today on Tuesday, February 18th and this mini-guide covers all the patch changes and additions.

This is mainly a PvP patch with the start of Season 15. There are also some tweaks to Timeless Isle weapons and better loot from the Celestials. There is also a bug where all Recruit-a-Friend and Scroll-of-Resurrection mounts aren't showing up for players in-game, but that should be fixed next realm restart.

Celestials and Gear Changes

The four celestials on the Timeless Isle now drop ilvl 550 Season 15 PvP gear instead of ilvl 522 Season 14 PvP gear. These items are fairly good for new alts or players that don't raid Normal Siege of Orgrimmar.

2 piece: Sudden Eclipse: While not in an Eclipse state critical attacks done to you restore 20 Solar or 20 Lunar energy whichever is more beneficial to you. This effect can only occur once every 6 sec.

Nerve Strike now causes a successful Kidney Shot or Cheap Shot to also reduce the damage dealt by player targets by 25% (down from 50% for player targets). No changes to the talent when used against non-player targets.

Disrupting Shout and Pummel now both share a 15-second cooldown when either ability is used. Disrupting Shout's 40-second cooldown remains unchanged but the ability will be unavailable for 15 seconds after using Pummel.

Creatures

Celestials now drop Season 15 Prideful Gladiator gear in place of Season 14 Grievous Gladiator gear.

BattleTag™ or Real ID friends are now only able to send 10 chat messages every 10 seconds over Battle.net® chat. User Interface Add-Ons should use the new send function and receive events to send communications information.

Ah, Love is in the Air in the World of Warcraft: sweet flowers, perfume, and sharing gifts with loved ones! But, what's this? A sinister plot is afoot involving some shady goblin newcomers to the seasonal market--the Crown Chemical Company! It's up to us to help save Azeroth from their chemically altered goods all while spreading love and appreciation to our faction leaders and fellow players!

Love is in the Air starts on February 10 at 11:00 AM and ends on February 24 at 11:00 AM. This holiday can be celebrated by the Horde in Orgrimmar and the Alliance in Stormwind City. Seasonal decorations such as wreaths, candles and ribbons can be found in all major cities and at most zone inns. Players will also find Lovely Merchants who sell seasonal gifts and goodies.

We have added additional sections on Love Tokens and rewards in 2014, but there appears to be no changes to the event. New to 2013 were updated ilvl 480 epic amulets for defeating Apothecary Hummel and different places to farm Lovely Charm.

We're continuing our series of pop culture reference posts with a look at NPCs and quests that are clever references to games and music! In past weekends, we've covered items, achievements, and player tributes.

Did you know that many Operation Shieldwall and Dominance Offensive dailies are references to Queen songs? Or that Archmage Vargoth quotes "Hotel California"? Perhaps you're nostalgic for the long Legend of Zelda questline removed in Cataclysm, but are happy Mario and Luigi are safe in Un'Goro--unlike Dadanga.

We'll be doing another post on NPCs and Quests soon covering other topics like books, movies, and TV shows.